


fated (that's what we are)

by kaatiekinss



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Cunnilingus, Episode: s01e05 Midsummers, Episode: s01e07 Dead Calm, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, JJ Maybank Has a Big Dick, Missionary Position, Mutual Pining, Post-Season/Series 01 Finale, Smut, Soft filth, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Vaginal Fingering, Woman on Top, aka my brand, brief mentions of abuse, but also super soft, it's about the implications, this last part is like...honestly straight up filth WHEW, unprotected sex but they're both clean and she's on birth control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:54:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26456755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaatiekinss/pseuds/kaatiekinss
Summary: A Jiara Soulmates AU.
Relationships: JJ Maybank/Kiara Carrera, JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks), Sarah Cameron/John B. Routledge
Comments: 90
Kudos: 185
Collections: Jiara Ocean Kiss Soulmate Endgame Excellence (aka a jiara-centric fic collection)





	1. kiara.

**Author's Note:**

> _"Our lives may not have fit together, but, oh, how our souls knew how to dance."_

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> midsummers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same." - Emily Bronte_

Kiara had always imagined what it would be like to finally get her words. What would they be? Where would they appear? Who would they be from? 

The thought of her soulmate being JJ crossed her mind a few times. She allowed herself to indulge in the fantasy a little bit before shutting it down. He was her best friend, and she didn’t want to lose what they had, not over a girlish daydream. 

After her freshman year at Kook Academy and her conversion to full-time Pogue, things changed. Kie got boobs, like, actual boobs, and JJ filled out his large frame. He got muscles where she got curves, and while nothing ever happened between them, there was the irrevocable knowledge that something had changed.

Kiara pretended she didn’t see him check her out whenever she stripped down to her bikini or bent over to tie her shoe and she hoped he didn’t notice (or at least pretended he didn’t notice) the appraising glances she’d shoot him whenever he hauled his shirt over his head or did something with his hands. 

_ His hands. _ Kiara knew the stories; girls talked, and she had seen the steady parade of tan, blue-eyed blondes stumbling their way out of the Chateau in the morning to know that the rumors were true. JJ Maybank knew what to do with his hands.  _ And _ his mouth, if  _ all _ the whisperings were to be believed. It seemed it was good for more than just biting retorts at the likes of Rafe or Topper

Seeing JJ surrounded by girls who look nothing like her during keggers at the Boneyard, or kissing them goodbye the next morning made something squeeze in her chest. 

She doesn’t like to think about what that might mean.

—

Midsummer’s happens anyway, even though not three miles away thousands of people don’t have electricity or running water. 

The tone-deafness of it all isn’t lost on Kiara.

She’s wearing a ridiculous lavender silk dress and an obnoxious flower crown circa a 2013 Snapchat filter. If she saw herself she would mock her, too. Her hair is piled on top of her head with too many bobby pins and the tendrils that her mom left free keep blowing into her face and getting caught in her earrings.

Kiara makes meaningless small talk with some of the other Kook girls, sneaking off to hang with Pope as soon as her parents are gazing elsewhere. She takes advantage of the gourmet food and expensive champagne; it is a Kook party, might as well indulge in the lavishness of it all.

As the night goes on and everyone gets progressively more intoxicated, Kiara becomes more and more disillusioned with the party. 

Her reprieve comes in the form of JJ, dressed as a waiter and looking significantly worse for wear. 

His face looks bad, and her stomach sinks, wondering how he got so beat up but already having a pretty good idea. 

JJ’s never said his dad abuses him; he doesn’t have to; the bruises he tries so desperately to explain away and blow off, the lack of money even though he works like a dog, and the copious amounts of time spent anywhere but his home speaks volumes. 

She sees him running from Rafe and his cronies, and she means to follow them. But then her mother is grabbing her arm and giving her a stern look as she introduces Kiara to a Kook guy wearing a pale yellow suit and too much hair gel.

Kiara amuses her parents by carrying a conversation with the boy, whose name is Chad because, of course, it is. The entire time he’s talking to her the only thing she can think about is JJ and what could be happening to him right now if Rafe caught up to him. 

A few minutes later, the boy in question appears again, this time with the security guards hand wrapped around his arm. He nearly runs right into her as he’s dragged through the middle of the party. 

She knows him well enough to tell that he’s embarrassed and his disheveled state tells her he was probably just in a fight. There’s a part of her that loves him for it; interrupting the party, being loud and uncouth, disrupting the perfectly put-together existence of Figure Eight high society. 

He’s floundering, and Kiara finds herself speaking up, demanding he’s let go, that she’s a member and she invited him here tonight. Her parents are grabbing her arm, muttering her name under their breath. But their attempts to silence her are ignored. 

JJ’s eyes meet hers from across the room. He pushes the guard away, sending him careening into a waiter. Metal clangs and glass smashes. The assembled Kooks gasp.

He says something over the murmur about Rixon’s and then he’s addressing her directly. 

“Kie, come on, workers of the world unite,” he raises his fist into the air and grabs his wrist in defiance,  _ “throw off your chains!” _

Those words make goosebumps break out over her entire body. In an instant, everything changes. The world shifts. Her existence brightens. And all the things she's ever questioned suddenly make sense. 

Kiara is smiling in spite of herself. Her father mutters something about her not being friends with these kids anymore, her mother says her name and grabs at her wrist. 

But her decision was made long before tonight. 

Because when it came down to it and Kiara had to make a choice between cushy Kook life or JJ Maybank...it was JJ. It was always JJ. It would always be JJ.

She feels so happy, filled to the brim with joy as she hastily and without a hint of sincerity, apologizes to her parents. Then she’s running across the lawn and JJ is turning to her, smiling from ear to ear, arms outstretched. One hand is holding up the hem of her dress so she doesn’t trip, but she lets it go just before she gets to him. Her arms wrap around his shoulders and his hands find her waist as he twirls her and--

Oh.

_ Oh. _

An overwhelming feeling takes over her body, a warmth radiating from the exact place where his hand first touched her. The goosebumps return, but stronger now, so strong she actually shivers. 

When her feet finally hit the grass, JJ doesn’t let go of her hand. They follow John B and Pope to the boat, but Kiara nearly trips as her heels slip and slide in the wet sand. JJ catches her as she falls because of course, he does. 

“Woah,” he holds her arm to steady her, “you okay there, Carrera? Too much champagne?” He’s smiling at her.

Gently, she reaches up and touches the cut on his face. He flinches but doesn’t pull away. 

“JJ…”

“I’m fine, Kie,” licking his lips, he looks away from her, “just...my dad. Nothing new.”

His tone breaks her heart. The two of them stand there on the beach, the wet sand below them and the moon and stars above. The moment is shattered when John B and Pope yell back at them, asking what the hell’s taking them so long. 

JJ’s still holding her hand as they continue moving across the sand, and Kiara wonders why he hasn’t let her go. Not that she minds. 

JJ climbs in the boat first and holds out his hand to help her inside. She takes it like she has so many times before. With a grin, he brings her fingers to his lips and brushes them over it. 

“M’lady,” he says. 

Kiara rolls her eyes, but JJ calling her his lady and kissing her hand (even in the lighthearted and teasing way in which he probably meant it) does funny things to her insides. 

She’s never been one for displays of chivalry. It’s old-fashioned at best and demeaning at worst, but she doesn’t mind when JJ opens the Chateau door for her or gives her his jacket when they’re out and she gets chilly. Maybe because she knows that he knows she’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Maybe because she enjoys the fact that she’s the only girl he does these things for, outdated though they may be. 

They sit next to each other on the boat, pressed together from shoulder to thigh. Kiara had always been aware of JJ whenever they were close. Especially after the first summer, she spent as a Pogue. But now her skin sparks wherever they touch, and her blood is thrumming through her veins so loud she wonders if he can hear it. The goosebumps still haven’t gone away, and when she shivers, JJ, believing her to be cold from the wind as they sail through the chilly night air, throws an arm around her.

She can’t find the words to tell him to move it. She doesn’t think she wants him to. 

\---

The rest of the night is a blur. Kiara is exhausted by the time she finally gets home. Her mind is spinning as she recalls John B laying on the ground, body twisted unnaturally, unmoving, and Sarah Cameron of all people, sobbing over him, begging him not to leave her. 

Her dress is ruined, and she’s sure she’s in for one hell of a fight with her parents tomorrow for causing a scene. For running off with “those kids”, for defending “that Maybank boy”. She clenches her fist subconsciously. 

JJ had been beside himself, vibrating with anxiety as they sat in the hospital waiting room. Pope’s parents showed up, and her parents popped in. Hell, even Sarah and Ward came. But Luke hadn’t come for JJ, and it was only after begging her parents that they had agreed to drop him off at the Chateau. 

He climbed out of the car with a mumbled, “thank you, sir,” and a tired smile to her. As soon as he left, the content she felt in his presence faded into a dull ache deep in her chest. 

Kiara kicks her shoes in the direction of her closet. Her dress comes off and ends up thrown over her desk chair. She puts her jewelry away and practically rips the ridiculous flower crown out of her hair. It ends up in her trash can. The bobby pins are a pain in the ass to remove, but finally, she does and she sets about taking off her makeup and putting on pajamas, ready for this night from hell to be over. 

She notices it first out of the corner of her eye. 

The spot of black on her body catches her attention as she walks by her mirror. Raising her arm, she walks closer, letting her other hand touch it as she observes in the reflection.

Kiara runs the tips of her fingers over it slowly, realization dawning. 

There, on the soft skin of her ribs, just below the curve of her breast, are her words. 

_ “Throw off your chains!”  _

They replay in her head over and over and over again. 

Oh.

She’d recognize that unruly scrawl anywhere. 

_ JJ. _

_ Oh. _

Many things make sense all at once. The goosebumps and feeling of pure, undiluted joy when he said those words, the warmth that spread all over her body as soon as he caught her and twirled her around, the lingering feeling of deep relief and contentment whenever he was near as if her soul had sighed and said, " _Oh, there you are._ " 

Kiara sinks down onto her bed, her hand still touching the now raised words on her skin. She had expected to feel shocked or surprised upon getting her soul mark and learning who her soulmate was. But truthfully, nothing has ever felt so right and no one has ever made more sense than JJ. 

The warm, relieved feeling is seeping back into her body, just from thinking about him. She can feel herself relax as she flops back on her bed, smiling like a moron. It’s disgusting, really. 

God, when did she become such a sap?

And what the hell is she going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Kiara's POV; hopefully I got her voice right.
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments: your feedback is important to me!
> 
> xoxo Katiekins


	2. jj.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dead calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"I was born into darkness but I am made of light." - Christy Anne Martine_

When JJ’s mom left, he was eight. And the last thing she said to him was a warning. Not about his father, not about talking to strangers, or looking both ways before crossing the road. 

No, her last words to him were about his soulmate.

_ “Don’t settle for anyone less than your soulmate, Baby,” she looked over his little shoulder at Luke passed out on the couch, “even if it feels like you’ll never find them,” she pushes his shaggy, blonde hair off his forehead, “being alone is better than being with just anybody.” _

That moment, those words, have stuck with him all these years. And when he was thirteen he made a promise to himself: he would never settle down. He knew what could happen if you ended up with someone who wasn’t your soulmate, had witnessed first hand the anger and resentment that festered between two people together out of convenience instead of destiny. 

It wasn’t like he’d never thought about who his soulmate could be. Of course, he had. Quite a lot, actually. It was mostly harmless wondering, childish curiosity. Like when the girl behind the bait shop counter flirted with him, or a Touron made eyes at him from across the Boneyard. 

And yeah, he’d allowed himself to imagine what his life would be like if Kiara was his soulmate. But she was important to him; he’d already lost her once during her Kook year, he didn’t want to ruin what was arguably one of the only truly good things in his life. 

Things changed after that, though. He lost all his baby fat and grew a few inches, and suddenly he had abs. Girls went from having cooties to his favorite topic of conversation, and he began to notice them and vice versa.

Kiara suddenly went from his friend who was a girl to his  _ hot _ friend who was a girl. One day she was just Kiara, and the next she was still Kiara but she had  _ curves and legs and boobs _ and JJ found himself watching her doing simple mundane things he hadn’t even paid attention to before because she just looked so damn good doing them. 

  
JJ would never admit it but the thrill he got whenever he caught her watching him take off his shirt on the boat or roll a joint on top of the cooler was better than any high he’d ever had. 

It bugs him when Kook guys hit on her at parties or Tourons flirt with her at the Wreck. 

He tells himself it’s because she’s his best friend, but deep down he knows it’s more than that.

\---

If finally finding the gold was the ultimate high, then what comes after is the ultimate low. 

JJ hadn’t meant for everything to get so out of hand. He was just so angry; at Barry, at Topper, his dad, the world. Suddenly, his friends are standing in front of him, varying expressions of horror and pity and pain and he hates it, hates the looks they keep giving him, especially Kiara.

He’s trying to play it off, “Guys, look what I did for you! Alright! Look at this,” He’s gesturing wildly, eyes stubbornly holding back tears. He’s doing alright at first until Kie starts tearing up. 

“JJ.” 

And that’s it for him. Kiara’s voice breaking over his name opens the damn floodgates. He starts to cry, feeling way too much like that eight-year-old little boy again, screaming at the back of his mother’s car, begging her not to leave him, begging her to stay, to come back, to take him with her. 

But this time he’s not alone. Kiara is there because of course, she is. She climbs into the hot tub and throws her arms around him and as soon as her hand touches the back of his shoulder, something changes. Through the pain, JJ can feel a brewing sense of relief. He shivers, whether from the cool air hitting his warm, wet skin or from Kiara’s comforting hand that has now found the back of his neck, smoothing down his hair. 

It’s all too much, the pain and anger, and this quieter, surprisingly calm energy that begins to overtake him. He wraps his arms around her, and she just fits so perfectly; like she was always meant to be there. She doesn’t let go of him as he continues to cry, and for the first time in his life, JJ doesn’t feel ashamed for it. 

He’s muttering under his breath, trying to articulate all the things he’s feeling, but in the end, all he can really say is, “I just want to do the right thing.”

Kiara hugs him tighter, and softly says,  _ “I know.”  _

Something happens then, as he hears those words. There’s a tingling feeling all over his body as the goosebumps grow more intense. He’s shaking, from the cool night air and the soft cries contorting his chest but can feel a calmness lingering in his bones the longer Kiara holds him. There’s a shift as JJ realizes that he doesn’t want her to let go. 

When he finally pulls away, the water in the hot tub having long grown cold, Kiara doesn’t let go of him. She puts her arm around his waist and helps him out, being mindful of the dark bruises littering his torso. With Pope’s help, she manages to get him into the bathroom. 

He can’t stop shivering and when his teeth begin to chatter, Kiara makes the decision to get him into the shower. She turns on the tap and waits for the water to heat up, gingerly testing it with her hand as JJ sits on the toilet. The only place he doesn’t feel cold is the place where her hand touched him on the back of his shoulder.

The steam is rolling by the time she deems the water hot enough, and JJ stands on suddenly shaky legs. Kiara takes his hand and helps him step over the lip of the bathtub. 

“Okay?” She asks, meeting his eyes, her brown on his blue. He nods, flinching a bit when the hot water hits his freezing skin. It burns. She draws the curtain closed but doesn’t leave. Instead, she sits down on the toilet. It makes him feel better that she’s there and he doesn’t really know why. 

His fingers are stiff and his knuckles ache, and he keeps dropping the Goddamn shampoo bottle. When he drops it for the third time and swears, Kiara is softly saying his name and pulling the curtain open. He won’t look at her, stubborn in his embarrassment, and trying to hold onto what little dignity he has left. She doesn’t ask, she just steps in, tank top and shorts and all. He’s not naked, he never took his board shorts off, so why does this feel so intimate when they’re both still clothed? 

Kiara asks him, “Can I?” 

Now, normally JJ would have some flirty comeback ready to make her blush and smack his arm. But he doesn’t have any words as Kiara stands in front of him, soaking wet now, too, the steam curling her hair, even more, staring at his body, broken and bruised. 

He nods because he can’t speak. She guides him to turn around with her hands on his upper arms. JJ lets her. She picks up the shampoo bottle he couldn’t keep a hold of and squirts some into her palm. He lets her do that, too. He flinches when she touches his head, but then her fingernails are massaging his scalp, washing away the dirt and sweat and blood, the salty ocean air, and the greasy motor oil. 

Her hands feel nice on his skin. He hasn’t had someone wash his hair since his mom when he was little. Before she left. Kiara guides him back under the spray, lets him rinse his head off, and then she’s taking the sponge and washing him up. 

JJ lets her because he’s too tired to protest. He can feel the exhaustion setting in. Kiara seems to know because she’s turning off the water and helping him out, wrapping him in one of her fluffy towels she keeps in the cupboard because “the towels here always smell like mildew and guy funk.” 

They walk across the hall to Big John’s room, where JJ’s been staying. He sits down, the springs creaking under the weight. Kiara bustles around, searching for something, probably clean clothes for him to put on. When she can’t find any she’s going down the hall to John B’s room and coming back with boxer briefs, a t-shirt, and a clean pair of sweatshorts. 

She turns around while he changes, and it seems stupid now, considering they were both just standing under the hot water in the shower together. She’s at the other end of the room facing away from him and JJ doesn’t like the distance between them. It causes an ache deep in his chest. 

He throws his boardshorts into a corner and falls back on the bed. Kiara turns around when she hears him moving and then she’s sitting down next to him, one knee bent under her and the other leg on the ground. She pulls a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a washcloth out of nowhere and begins dabbing at his face and knuckles. 

He flinches, but plays it off, hating this heaviness that sits between them now. 

“Damn, Kie, take it easy on me,” he says, and her eyes flick briefly to lips and then quickly away which okay. It’s not the first time that’s happened, but it is the first time it’s made JJ’s heartbeat pick up. 

He doesn’t say anything else as Kiara finishes cleaning him up. When she turns the covers over, JJ falls on his back, scooching delicately until his head is on the pillow. Kiara’s hesitating between the bed and the door, arms hanging limply at her sides. 

“Do you want me to stay?” 

The moon has come up now, shining through the big window at the end of the bed. The whole room is either moonlight or shadow, and while JJ has never been one to have fancy words for...anything, to be honest, they come to him for the way Kiara looks right now. 

He can see the curls hanging down her back, and he’s always liked that; how wild her hair is, the way it curls and moves when she does. Or her fingers. He likes those, too. The way they pluck the strings of her ukelele or hold a joint. Or her legs, which he’s always thought were fucking spectacular, but now he kind of lets his mind wander into forbidden territory; how soft the inside of her thighs feels or how they’d look wrapped around him. 

“Cause I’ll stay.”

JJ nods before he can really think about her question. He watches as she takes off her wet clothes, dutifully throwing his hand over his eyes as she takes off her bra and picks up one of his shirts from the floor. He opens his eyes when the other side of the bed dips. 

Kiara lays down next to him. Her head finds his shoulder, her damp hair bleeding through the t-shirt he’s wearing. This isn’t the first time they’ve laid like this. It’s not the first time Kiara’s worn one of his t-shirts to bed, or even cleaned him up after a fight. It’s not the first time for any of it, and yet JJ can’t seem to get that message to his racing heart. 

He’s so filled with contentment that he doesn’t wake up for hours yet. And when he does get up to go pee, Kiara is still lying next to him. 

JJ’s mind is clear now, the anger long faded, the resentment cooled down, and the only thing that hasn’t changed in the few hours since Kiara climbed into bed beside him is how he longs to be close to her again. How he misses the steady sound of her breathing and the quiet thump of her heart. The smell of her shampoo has taken permanent residence in his nose, the cadence of her voice saying his name has set up shop in his head. 

He’d taken his shirt off sometime in the night, the oppressive heat of the North Carolina summer forcing him into shirtlessness. 

And that’s when he notices it. 

It’s completely by accident. As he turns to flush the toilet, the night light hits him just right, and there it is. 

In loopy cursive on his left shoulder blade are two little words. 

_ I know. _

It takes him a bit, but then he remembers Kiara’s handwriting on the corner of the history essay she helped him write, and the words she spoke to him in the hot tub earlier, what hearing them made him feel. 

Oh. 

It hits him like a freight train.

_ Kiara.  _

_ Oh. _

The goosebumps in the hot tub and the longing in his chest, and everything,  _ everything _ , makes perfect sense. The way those words filled him with a lightness, a contentment, a feeling of safety and calm, and the warmth in his chest whenever she was near as if his soul had sighed and said,  _ “Oh, there you are.” _

JJ grips the edge of the sink, his heart feeling like it might beat out of his chest. His knuckles turn white. He thinks about all those times he dared to think,  _ what if it’s Kiara _ , and about the selfish guilt that came after. His father had always told him that he didn’t have one. That even the universe could see what a piece of shit he was, that no one could possibly be his soulmate. JJ couldn’t imagine Kiara being weighed down with him for the rest of her life. It wasn’t fair; someone like her with someone like him. 

It’s all of JJ’s worst fears realized. A moment that should make him indescribably happy only makes him heartbroken. Because he knows he has to let her go. He can’t doom her to the life of a fisherman’s wife, a life of living paycheck to paycheck, a life on a fishing shack on the marsh when she deserves the world. 

It isn’t until he looks up at his reflection in the mirror that he realizes he’s crying. Salty tears, little bits of the ocean as his mom used to say, running down his cheeks. With shaky hands, he wipes them away, takes a deep breath, and goes back to his bedroom. 

Kiara has rolled over onto his side of the bed, wild hair over his pillow. JJ has the strongest urge to kiss her. He pushes that down,  _ hard _ . Instead, he lays down next to her again, selfish though it may be. 

When he rolls onto his back and Kiara snuggles into his side, he wraps his arm around her and closes his eyes, his mother’s words bouncing around his head at war with the relief he feels in his chest when her heard falls into the crook of his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's JJ's POV. I had a hell of a time writing him. If it seems a bit all over the place it's because it's intentional. I wanted to emulate the franticness and erraticness of that scene in the hot tub. Hopefully, it's not completely terrible. Thank you to the girls in the gc for their continued love and support <3
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments: your feedback is important to me!
> 
> xoxo Katiekins


	3. part one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> november. part one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"Soulmates are more than just lovers." - Unknown_

It’s two months of hell before Sarah and John B come back home. Another month of legal bullshit and depositions and hearings and trials. Four bodies later, Ward and Rafe Cameron both go away for a long time. In the end, the gold is theirs. Taxes knock it down to about 200 million, but still, that’s about 40 million each. 

It’s a hollow victory.

Sheriff Susan Peterkin is buried with all the honor due her in a small ceremony a few weeks after the sentencing. John B holds back his tears. Sarah holds his hand. JJ doesn’t cry. But Kiara holds his hand anyway.

They bury John Booker “Big John” Routledge Sr. on an early September day in the family plot. Half the island shows up. John B cries. Sarah holds his hand tighter this time. JJ cries, too. Kiara holds his hand again.

Her parents quietly offer to be John B’s legal guardians. It surprises her,  _ surprises them all _ , but her mom and dad are trying now more than they ever have and she’s grateful for it. John B accepts...as long as he can stay in the Chateau. Her father compromises and insists he come by the house at least once a week for dinner. Her mother awkwardly invites Pope and JJ, too. And that’s that. 

The Thornton’s decide not to press charges for the boat. JJ pays them back every single penny anyway; he doesn’t want to be indebted to anyone, he says, especially a bunch of kooks. 

Luke Maybank ends up arrested for possession, and the whole thing spills out. The drugs, the drinking, the years of abuse. He makes a deal with the State’s attorney. Gets twenty-five years. JJ doesn’t go to a single hearing. 

Pope’s parents step up, take on another kid, just like her parents have. JJ doesn’t know what to say when they tell him they’ll be his legal guardians if he’ll have them. Kiara hasn’t seen him smile that big since before his mom left. 

Things return to some version of normal. There’s school and work and long nights spent together, the five of them sharing a bottle of expensive merlot Sarah stole from Rose. 

She doesn’t tell JJ about her words and he doesn’t tell her about his and they both tell themselves that this is enough, what they have. 

It’s not.

Kiara starts wearing one-piece swimsuits and JJ keeps a t-shirt on at all times. They both wear their wetsuits while surfing, even when they don’t need to. Kiara pretends she doesn’t notice how all of JJ’s latest hookups look suspiciously like her and he doesn’t comment on her casually seeing a tanned, blonde surfer. 

Sarah is the first person in their group to pick up on it all; the way they look at one another when the other one isn’t paying attention. The way they orbit each other, the little things they do for the other without thinking. When a Touron looking almost exactly like Kiara comes sneaking out of JJ’s bedroom one morning, Sarah nearly spits her orange juice everywhere. And when she sees Kiara at the Boneyard, making out with a blonde surfer named Jack, her eyebrows raise so high they’re practically in her hairline. 

She had always wondered, even before they were friends again, if Kie and JJ had a thing. Of course, there were rumors, a teenage girl being that close with three teenage boys? She had to be sleeping with at least one of them. But there was something different about the casually affectionate way they always were. 

She asks John B about it, casually, as they cuddle one night. It’s October now, the craziness of summer long gone, and the OBX having entered the offseason. 

“So...JJ and Kiara?” 

Her boyfriend looks at her, clearly puzzled, so obviously oblivious to the massive heart eyes his friends have been sending each other for some time now. 

“What about ‘em?”

Sarah blinks a few times, thanking God her boyfriend is pretty, before sighing, “Nevermind,” and rolling over onto her side, “go to sleep, John B.”

\---

There’s this weird tension between them now. JJ takes care not to touch her as casually as he once did. He no longer invades her personal space (which she never really minded) or sits next to her if he can help it.

Kiara is left hurt and confused, and torn about telling him about her soulmark.

It all comes to a head the week of Thanksgiving. 

John B and Sarah are talking about soulmarks. Pope just got his after running into a Touron who moved into the house next door. As he excitedly tells them about how it happened, Kiara watches JJ.

He remains uncharacteristically quiet, refusing to meet her eyes. He’s chewing the inside of his cheek again, something he does when he’s stewing about something. He’s been doing that an awful lot lately. 

When John B rolls up his sleeve to show them his soul mark, and Sarah moves her skirt off her thigh to do the same, JJ blows out a huge breath as he stands and stalks out of the living room and into the kitchen. 

Anxious and confused glances are exchanged amongst the four of them, and their silent conversation seems to determine Kiara is the one who should follow him. 

She gets up from the couch and goes into the kitchen, leaning against the doorway. The sirens and lights start going off when she sees that JJ is  _ washing the dishes _ . 

“Why have you been weird, JJ?” The “with me” part remains unsaid, but she’s sure he knows. She hates cornering him, but this confrontation has been brewing for months now. 

He doesn’t look up and he doesn’t turn around. “It’s nothing, Kiara, let it go.” The use of her first name startles her. He hardly ever calls her Kiara to her face. 

“Um, it’s obviously not nothing if you’re bothered by the question. And doing the dishes.”

He doesn’t answer her, just focuses really intently on scrubbing some week-old dried cheese off a cracked plate. He’s being fucking stubborn because of course, he is, but Kiara can do this, too.

“Well, I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’ve been so off lately.” She crosses her arms over her chest. 

“Because you’re my soulmate, okay?!” The abrupt raising of his voice and what he says so loudly sends shockwaves through her entire body. There are the goosebumps again. 

“JJ--”

“You’re my soulmate and I think I fucking love you but I can’t give you what you deserve, Kie, I'm not good enough for you.” 

The words come spilling out in a jumble. It’s so silent Kiara can almost hear her heartbreaking. JJ runs a hand through his hair, fingers tugging hard at the roots. 

“Fuck,” he says, suddenly understanding the magnitude of what he’s just confessed, “fuck, Kie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to tell you that, I was just angry and confused and you probably don’t need this--”

Kiara doesn’t let him finish. She crosses the kitchen and presses her lips to his, shutting him up. When JJ starts to kiss her back after the initial moment of hesitation, lips meeting hers softly as he leans closer, her heart feels like it might explode. 

They pull away at the same time, eyes fluttering open to meet each other’s gaze. There’s a beat of hesitation again, where Kiara hopes her face is saying, “I want you, keep going, please keep going,” and then he’s pulling her back in, one hand grabbing her chin, the other finding her waist and squeezing. Kiara’s hands grasp his upper arms, fingernails digging into his skin softly, just enough to let him know she’s there. 

She’s imagined this moment for so long. Kissing her soulmate. Kissing JJ. And now she has them both. At the same time. It’s enough to make a girl as modern as Kiara gets butterflies. 

His lips taste like the turkey sub she brought him from the Wreck, his tongue like the bottle of cabernet they’d been passing around. The familiar scents of saltwater, Old Spice, and motor oil linger on his skin and in his hair. 

Kiara arches into him, her chest pressing firmly against his as she runs her hands through his hair. JJ’s free hand finds the dip in her spine just above her ass, arm pulling her in tighter. 

Her whole body is singing, nerves firing rapidly, goosebumps taking over her skin, butterflies fluttering away in her stomach. Her soulmark is tingling. It’s everything kissing your soulmate should feel like and more; because it’s JJ and part of her had always hoped it would be him. 

He pulls away first, slowly, softly, like he’s afraid if he moves too fast he’ll scare her away. He’s still holding her face, and although they’re no longer kissing, they’re so close that his lips will occasionally brush hers as he breathes. 

Kiara doesn’t know what else to say except, “You’re my soulmate, too, dumbass.”

JJ grins at her and starts to speak, probably to say something smart, but Kiara kisses him again to shut him up. 

This kiss is different. It’s hard, more insistent. It makes her blood thrum through her veins, leaves her wet and wanting. JJ’s large hand grabs her ass and pulls her close again, his leg sliding between her thighs as he turns them and presses her against the counter. His hand makes her grind against his thigh, the seam of her jeans rubbing in just the right spot. 

His lips move from hers to her neck, nose nudging her hair out of the way so he can kiss her there. Kiara becomes increasingly aware that they’re still standing in the middle of the kitchen with their friends in the other room. 

“JJ…” 

He hums in reply against her skin, barely paying attention.

“JJ…” She says again, tugging on his hair a little.

When he pulls away to look at her, lips pink and kiss swollen, hair askew from her hands, blue eyes dark with so many unspoken things, Kiara’s breath stutters in her throat. 

He seems to know what she wants before she says, their eyes doing that thing where they say everything best without saying anything at all.

JJ is lifting her beneath her thighs and wrapping her legs around him before she knows what’s happening. He’s so strong and yes, she knows that in theory, but there’s quite a difference between watching him lift something and being the something that’s being lifted. 

He walks back through the living room with Kiara wrapped around him like a vine, right past their friends where they’re still sitting on the couch. 

“Um…” John B looks between his best friends and his girlfriend, who’s smiling and nodding approvingly. He had heard JJ raise his voice but couldn’t really tell what he said because Sarah had turned up the TV to drown out the noise, “what?”

“Jesus, finally,” Sarah says, standing up and holding out her hand to her boyfriend, who’s sitting on the couch looking as confused as she’s ever seen him, “alright, that’s our cue to leave.” 

He takes her hand, still completely lost, and growing more confused by the second. Pope seems to get it though, so John B does as Sarah tells him until...

“But this is my house!”

“Just...get in the car, John B.”

\---

JJ kicks open the door to his bedroom, the wood hitting the wall behind it with a muted thud. He doesn’t lose his grip on her for a minute, a fact which doesn’t go unnoticed by Kiara. He’s somehow still kissing her, too. And she doesn’t know how he’s managing to do all of this at once, because the only thing she can think is  _ JJ...JJ...JJ...JJ _ .

When he finally sets her down, it’s the first time his lips have left hers since he picked her up in the kitchen. His hands turn her around so that her back is to his chest. One hand slides up her side to her shoulder, pushing her hair out of the way so he can kiss her neck. 

His other hand slides underneath the frayed hem of her sweater and across her lower belly where it meets his other hand. Together, they slide up and when they reach her breasts JJ lets out a low groan against her neck. 

“Jesus,” her nipples harden under his palms, “no bra, Kie?”

“Well I wasn’t expecting to be felt up today, otherwise I would have worn something cute.”

Her head falls back on his shoulder as his hands cup her breasts, nimble fingers playing with her nipples. His rings are cold against her, the massive temperature difference between them and his warm hands making her goosebumps come back.

Starting to get impatient, Kiara turns around in his arms. His hands are still under her sweater, but now they drift to her hips. He gives a little squeeze, and a smile to go with it. Kiara wraps her arms around his neck, fingers playing with his hair.

“When were you going to tell me?” She asks quietly.

JJ flushes, a rare occurrence, and clears his throat. “Uh, well, I wasn’t,” he says, breaking eye contact as he looks away, “didn’t want to tie you down and burden you with this.” 

He says “this” but she knows he means “me”. 

Determined to show him the truth, Kiara steels herself and takes his hand. Gently, she slides it back up her side until his fingers are hovering over her words. Her skin tingles when he finally touches it, and she can tell he feels it, too. JJ’s eyes widen and fall closed as he caresses her soulmark, and then he’s smiling when he deciphers what the raised words say. 

“Throw off your chains?” 

She nods in the affirmative, watching the wonder play across his features. JJ licks his lips before he kisses her again, his hands finding the hem of her sweater and drawing it up and over her head. All while he walks her back towards the bed. 

Kiara falls when her knees hit the mattress, and JJ settles over her. One large hand by her head, holding himself up, and the other sliding up her now bare abdomen to find her breast again. 

He smirks as she gasps into his mouth and arches up into him, hands squeezing his shoulders. JJ takes advantage of her moment of distraction to kiss downward, lips and tongue caressing her jawline, then her neck. Across her collarbone and down the curve of her breast. He indulges a bit, wrapping his lips around her nipple and sucking, loving the sounds she makes.

Continuing down her body, he kisses her belly button and then the delicate skin at the top of her jeans. Kiara opens her eyes when he stops, looking down her body at him. She realizes, with a flutter, that he’s waiting for her to give him permission. 

It shouldn’t be something that makes her feel special and cared for. Really, continuous consent should be the norm, but it’s JJ,  _ her soulmate _ , and they’re here,  _ finally _ , after so long. So she nods, a little too enthusiastically, because he smiles at her teasingly. 

When his fingers find the button on her jeans and then pull down on the zipper, Kiara has to remind herself to keep breathing. When he takes them off, she raises her hips to help him. Her panties come with her jeans, and then she’s naked. In front of JJ, which,  _ hey _ , is a lot more nerve-wracking than she thought it would be. 

He must notice how nervous she is, because he shuffles closer and draws her legs around him. JJ leans down again and kisses her, much slower this time. His lips are soft, just like she always imagined they would be. He pulls away and caresses the outsides of her thighs as he moves back down the bed. 

She knows where this is going and while she’s no virgin, none of the guys she’s been with were particularly...interested in going down on her. 

But  _ JJ _ . She’s heard the whisperings. From her Kook friends. From Tourons at the Wreck. From the other Pogue girls. The boy was good with his mouth. And his hands. So when he slides down her body and settles her legs over his shoulders, feet hanging down his back, Kiara closes her eyes in anticipation. 

He starts by kissing up the inside of her thigh. She opens her eyes and looks down to watch him. Kiara’s always been extremely sensitive there, and she can feel the goosebumps rise again as he gets closer and closer to her core. She’s wet, has been since he spun her around and pressed her back against the counter.

JJ hums against that soft space where hip meets thigh, and Kiara arches under him. She can feel him smile against her skin. 

When he finally puts his mouth on her, it’s euphoric. JJ licks up the whole length of her before he wraps his lips around her clit and sucks. 

“Jesus Christ,” Kiara says, head dropping back onto the pillow, eyes squeezing shut, hands flying to his head and fingers tangling around messy blonde locks. 

“I’m flattered, Kie, but JJ will do just fine.”

He pulls away from her to say that, and usually, Kiara would smack him for the comment. But then he’s putting his mouth back on her, and telling her to watch as he sucks two fingers into his mouth and pulls them out with a pop. 

When he slides them inside of her she moans, like an actual, real moan, not a fake one. And when he curls them forward, hooking on that spot that no one but she herself has been able to hit right, her hips jump off the bed.

JJ wraps his arm around her thigh to hold her open, hold her close. He keeps going, fingers and lips and tongue making her squirm and pant and, yes, _thank_ _God_ , the rumors are blessedly, incredibly true.

Her orgasm builds so fast it surprises her; before she knows it she’s pulling on his hair hard and crying out his name,  _ JJ...JJ...JJ...JJ _ .

Kiara’s vaguely aware of him kissing down her other leg, hands massaging the outsides of her thighs. The cool metal of his rings feels nice on her sweaty, heated skin. She can feel the bed move as he lays down next to her, rolling onto his side and resting his head on his elbow. 

Then his fingers are brushing some hair off her forehead. JJ caresses her cheekbone and her jaw, down her neck and across her collarbone. Like he’s trying to memorize every dip and plane of her body by touch.

When she finally opens her eyes, he’s gazing at her in a way she’s never seen before. It should be weirder than it is, her completely naked and him still fully clothed, but it’s not. He’s always said the most through touch, but it’s his eyes that speak the things he can’t find the words to say. 

“Hi.”

Her voice is small, quiet, a bit rough from their recent activities. JJ’s face splits into a grin though, and for a moment he looks  _ shy _ . 

“Hi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This last part was getting kind of long so I decided to split it. I'll be honest, I've only written smut for one ship thus far, so posting this is incredibly nerve-wracking. But I hope you like it and stay tuned for the final installment. And yes, there will be more smut ;-) 
> 
> Special thanks goes to the jiara jubilee gc. Thank you for the love and support and encouragement, this fic would not exist without you all <3 <3 <3
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments: your feedback is important to me!
> 
> xoxo Katiekins


	4. part two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> november. part two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks." - Richard Bach_

Kiara fists a hand in the collar of his t-shirt and pulls him down so she can kiss him. 

“You’re wearing way too many clothes,” she mumbles into his lips, hands gliding down his chest to the bottom hem of his t-shirt. She pushes it up his stomach and then JJ is reaching behind his head and tugging it off in that incredibly sexy way all guys take off their shirts.

She sighs and runs her hands down his chest, loving the way the muscles in his abdomen jump when she touches him. 

And like, JJ is gorgeous. He was always cute, but then he hit puberty and grew into his body, which had always been lanky before. Now he’s got muscles everywhere, and not showy ones either. His are born out of hard work. His skin is perfect, all tan and golden, his hair like spun gold, his eyes like the ocean. 

JJ Maybank is stunning. And he’s all hers.

He holds impossibly still as Kiara works open the button of his jeans. He sucks in a breath as she pushes them down his thighs. He sits up to take them off, and when he turns to throw them and his boxer briefs off the side of the bed, Kiara catches sight of his soulmark.

It’s on his left shoulder. Two simple words in her handwriting.

“I know.”

She doesn’t mean to say it out loud, doesn’t even realize she has until JJ’s body stiffens.

She sits up and walks on her knees to where he sits at the edge of the bed. Using one hand on his shoulder to steady herself, Kiara trails the fingertips of her other hand along the raised words. 

JJ melts into her touch, his body sagging as he lets out the air he’d been holding in his lungs. Kiara kisses his soulmark, and he shivers beneath her lips. She kisses across his spine to his other side, up the curve of his shoulder, and gently places her lips against his neck. 

Ever since that fight with his dad, JJ has been sensitive about his neck. He doesn’t like to be touched, there; even by one of them. And forget anything super constricting. It was a sure-fire way to send him into a panic attack. 

So the fact he lets her kiss him there and doesn’t freak out makes her heart swell. He’s taking deep breaths. She can feel his body rising and falling as he takes in air. Suddenly, he’s wrapping an arm around her and flipping them over. Kiara’s head hits the pillow with a soft poof and then JJ’s on top of her again. 

They’re both naked now and pressed together from chest to thigh. JJ’s hair is flopping forward, falling into his eyes as he hovers above her. His pupils are blown, but there’s still a sliver of ocean blue around the edges. 

“You sure?”

He looks like he expects her to say no. To put on the brakes. To back out. 

“Of course,” she replies, “are you?”

He hesitates like he knows what he wants to say but can’t find the words. 

“I want you, Kie, have for a long time,” he clears his throat, “I just don’t want you to wake up tomorrow and regret this.“

Kiara pets the hair at the nape of his neck soothingly.

“That could never happen. Do you hear me?” She grabs his face and makes him look at her. “I have never regretted anything with you.”

JJ goes very still and very quiet after that. Kiara wraps her legs around his hips, hoping the contact eases his nerves. She can feel him hot and hard against her thigh and is pleased to confirm more rumors about what he’s working with. 

When she moves her hand down to touch him, he’s so hard Kiara thinks it has to be painful. His eyes squeeze shut, mouth falling open as she strokes him.

“Fuck Kie, you’re gonna make this end before it’s even started.” He sounds more like himself now, though she can tell he’s still nervous.

“Well, we can’t have that,” she says, kissing the underside of his jaw, “wouldn’t want to jeopardize your reputation.”

JJ looks down at her and snorts, “I could give a shit less about my reputation; you’re the only one I really care about.”

And for JJ to say that means a lot. Kiara leans up to kiss him again, hoping her lips can communicate all the words she’s at a loss for.

JJ kisses her again, probably to distract her from where he’s desperately looking for a condom. When he pulls away from her lips to lean further over and rip open the bedside table drawer.

“God damn it, I know I had some in here.” She can tell he’s getting frustrated.

With a sigh, he looks back at Kiara under him. “I’m sorry Kie, I thought I had one. I always do.” 

Kiara bites her lip, thinking carefully about the next step. 

“I’m on the pill,” she says slowly, “and I’m clean…” She trails off, hoping he’s picking up what she’s laying down. 

“You mean raw?”

Kiara cringes and rolls her eyes, flicking the side of his head. She’s smiling though because JJ’s grinning and his smiles have always been contagious. 

“I hate that word but yes.”

“That wouldn’t freak you out?” 

Kiara thinks for a moment. 

“I mean...it’s you, I trust you. I know you’re clean, too.”

Kiara was horrified upon finding out that JJ had never been tested. So the very next day she drove him to the free clinic, telling him all the way there that getting tested regularly was the responsible thing to do both for himself and his partners.

He complained at first, but shut up pretty quickly once Pope started talking about how Syphilis eats the brain.

He kind of stares at her for a moment, and for once his eyes are so unreadable that she’s afraid she’s said the wrong thing. 

But then he’s kissing her again, desperate, eager, hungry. He draws away from her as he sits up to shuffle closer on his knees. Kiara is left breathless beneath him.

JJ draws her legs over his shoulders. Kisses her calf and the sensitive bend of her knee. And like.  _ Okay _ . She knew he was good, but not  _ this _ good. He’s already given her one fantastic orgasm and she feels on the verge of another and he hasn’t even been inside her yet.

“J, come on,” she says and no, she’s not above pouting to get him to do what she wants.

It works. 

JJ’s fingers find their way back between her legs. She sucks in a sharp breath. He slides two inside her again and pulls them out when he feels how ready she still is for him. With a smug grin, he draws his fingers into his mouth and makes a point to suck on them. 

At this point, Kiara is so turned on and so high off her orgasm and the knowledge that JJ is her soulmate. She wants him to get on with it, to make her come again, to finally be inside of her because she’s been thinking about this moment for longer than she cares to admit.

So she absolutely knows what she’s doing when she says all breathy, “Please, JJ?”

And boys are so fucking easy. Flutter your eyelashes at them and they’ll bend to your every whim. 

JJ’s pupils are completely blown as he lines himself up. He runs his tip up the wet length of her to her clit, grinning as Kiara’s back arches.

He starts to push in slowly, breath getting heavier with each second. The stretch is delicious. And she realizes, somewhere in the back of her mind that all of those times he would casually comment on how big his dick is wasn’t a joke.

When he sinks in all the way, his hips cradled tightly between her thighs, he hikes her legs up higher on his waist. Kiara locks her ankles together just above his ass. JJ settles over her, one hand fisted in the pillow next to her head, holding himself up. The other touching her one side all over. Her jaw, her neck, the curve of her breast, the dip of her waist before cresting her hip, and finding her clit again.

Kiara sighs, winding her hands around his neck and looking up at him. Her whole body feels warm and tingly, her soulmark especially, and the first thought she has as JJ begins to move is how she wants to spend the rest of her life feeling exactly this way.

\---

JJ’s had a lot of sex. Like, a lot. Probably more than is normal for a sixteen-year-old boy. And he’s never understood why people call it making love. Because he’s done it plenty of times and hasn’t felt anything other than horny. Maybe content. Certainly not love.

He finally gets it now. 

Kiara looks so beautiful beneath him, face all flushed, lips all swollen, hair spread out on his pillow like a curly, sweet-smelling halo. 

They fit together like they were meant to be and he realizes that they  _ were _ . That their souls knew they’d end up here even if they didn’t. 

His whole body feels warm and tingly, goosebumps rising all over his skin. When he looks down at Kiara he sees she’s in a similar state. His soul mark is practically vibrating. 

He’s imagined sex with her (for longer than he’ll admit) and he’s imagined sex with his soulmate and once he indulged in the fantasy that she was both, and nothing, not one god damn thing, he imagined could even compare to what he feels right now.

_ The real thing is so much better. _

He moves his hips slowly, testing the waters, and Kiara clenches around him. He sucks in a sharp breath, closes his eyes, tries to keep his cool.

“You feel so good,  _ Kiara _ , fuck,” the words come out breathy and strained. He keeps moving, watching her face as he thrusts. 

“So do you,” she says, craning her neck up to kiss him again, “better than I imagined.”

JJ presses his mouth to the underside of her jaw, sucking on the skin there and leaving a mark.  _ Mine _ , he thinks,  _ all mine _ . 

“You imagined?” 

It’s half tease, half genuine curiosity. Because he’s certainly thought of her like this: naked and underneath him, writhing against his sheets, squeezing around his cock. He just didn’t know she was thinking the same thing about him.

“Yes,” she says, voice lilting up at the end of the word when he rolls his hips deep and slow to see her reaction, “don’t let it go to your head.”

And there’s that biting snark he’s always loved. 

JJ leans back on his thighs, spreading Kiara’s legs where they’re wrapped around him. Licking his thumb, he traces her folds before moving to her clit, rubbing circles. She’s so wet she’s glistening where she’s wrapped around him, and he can still taste her on his tongue from before.

It’s one of the hottest fucking things he’s ever seen; especially when she squirms from his touch and moves her arm above her head and her soulmark is on display.

It’s surreal for him to see it. And for her to wear it so proudly, free and unashamed.

“JJ?” 

It isn’t until he hears her voice say his name he realizes that he zoned out, got distracted by her words dancing across her skin with every breath she took.

He flushes when she notices what he got distracted by. A hand on the back of his neck pulls him back down so that they’re chest to chest again. 

Kiara runs her fingers along his jaw tenderly, like he’s made of glass and could shatter if she’s not careful enough.

He’s not used to being touched so gently; especially during sex. It’s new and overwhelming. He lets his eyes fall closed, savoring the soft flutter of her fingertips against his skin.

He’s stopped moving at this point, buried to the hilt inside of her. He can feel her muscles flex and clench around him, and while he’s felt this before, everything feels heightened and more intense with her.

He wonders, idly, as he kisses her slow and easy, if it’s because it’s his soulmate or if it’s because it’s Kiara.

He thinks maybe it’s a little of both.

Kiara nudges her nose against his, smiles, and whispers, “Can I be on top,” and JJ nods because, yes, he wants that, too.

He rolls them over easily, and she fits perfectly in the cage of his arms. Another sign that they were always meant to end up here together.

As a general rule, JJ is usually on top. He likes the control it gives him, and being trapped under someone, even like this, makes his chest feel all tight and his heart rate spike. And not in a good way.

But when Kiara asked him if she could be on top, he hadn’t even hesitated to say yes. There was no anxiety, no panic, no fear. Just a desperate need to see her above him and a coil in his gut because she drives him insane.

They’re still pressed chest to chest, except now JJ’s the one on his back, Kiara’s arms framing his head. She moves some hair out of his eyes, and then she’s kissing him again.

JJ’s lips follow hers desperately as she leans up. Using her hands on his chest, Kiara shifts on top of him, wiggling her hips and clenching around him on purpose. Kiara trails the tips of her fingers down the center of his chest, nails scratching across every dip and ridge of his abdomen.

Large, warm hands adorned with cool metal rings slide up her thighs to grip around her waist. Kiara places one hand behind her on his thigh and the other on his lower stomach, right above where he’s buried inside of her.

Using her hands as a guide, she grinds her hips back and forth, like she’s dancing. Her breasts rise and fall with each breath she takes, dark nipples peaked and covered in goosebumps. 

“Put your hands on me, J,” she says softly, hips never stopping. 

Swallowing thickly, JJ moves his hands to her breasts, fingers toying with her nipples. Kiara’s mouth drops open and her head falls back on her shoulders. Her hips stutter and JJ instinctively bends his knees up to give her some support. 

The soft tips of Kiara’s curls brush the tops of his thighs with her head thrown back like that. When JJ braces his feet on the bed and drives his hips up into hers, she cries out in pleasure and begins to fall forward. He’s there to catch her, fingers intertwining with hers. 

He pulls Kiara forward so that she’s lying atop his chest. JJ wraps his arms around her, holding her to him tightly. 

“Can’t believe this is happening,” he says, hands climbing her back and caressing her shoulders, “wanted you for so long.”

He’s not usually so sappy during sex. Usually, he’s pretty quiet; he had to learn that early on living with his dad. And if he does talk it’s mostly likely absolute filth. But something about being with Kiara brings out the romantic in him. And things that he would usually find embarrassing to say feel freeing. 

“God, me too,” she says, and then boldly, around a moan when he cants his hips up sharply, “harder, please.”

That’s all he needs to hear. JJ rolls them over again, Kiara back below him. She pushes her hair away from her face, fingers gripping the pillow beneath her head as he puts her long legs over his shoulders and begins to move.

JJ shuffles forward on his knees, practically bending her body in half as he wraps his hands around her thighs for leverage and fucks her harder, just like she asked.

His hair has fallen forward into his eyes but he can see, through blond strands slick with sweat, Kiara sliding a hand down her body to touch herself as he thrusts. Four fingers find her clit and rub in circles, and JJ feels like he might pass out; he's so turned on.

“Fuck, Kiara, that’s so fucking hot,” and she  _ smirks _ at him, licks her bottom lip and pulls it between her teeth, and JJ’s gone. His climax comes on so suddenly and so intensely; his bones flying apart and melding themselves back together, blood thrumming through his veins like liquid fire. He’s vaguely aware of Kiara’s hands flying to him, nails scratching down his forearms, leaving red marks on his skin. 

His arms give out and he falls over her, but Kiara doesn’t seem to mind. She kisses his sweaty neck and runs her fingers through his hair. He’s still inside of her, his pelvis still cradled in between her thighs. 

He props himself above her on his forearms, lazily kissing all over her face and neck. He doesn’t realize he’s started crying until he kisses her cheek and tastes a salty tear. And even then he thinks it’s Kiara’s. But then he blinks and a few more fall onto her skin. 

He freezes, unsure of why this is happening. He doesn’t know how to feel. For so long, this,  _ her _ , had seemed so far out of reach. Like a dream he kept waking up from before he could get to the end. JJ’s still afraid of what being her soulmate means, and even more afraid of tying her down for the rest of her life. He knows what it’s like to live with a name like Maybank, tainted, poisoned, damaged beyond repair. He won’t do that to Kiara.

Her thumbs swipe the moisture from his cheeks, her voice dropping to a whisper as she asks him if he’s okay. He nods, distracting himself by running his fingers up and down her side, losing himself in the silky smooth softness of her skin. 

When his heart has calmed a little bit and he’s able to look at her without feeling like his chest is going to explode, JJ kisses her deeply. He begins the journey back down her body, kissing her collarbones and the tops of both breasts before sucking on her right nipple briefly, just to watch her squirm.

He skims his lips and the tip of his tongue down her torso, her belly sucking in as he goes. Kiara blushes as he pushes her legs back and spreads them, ankles by her ears, his hands heavy on the backs of her thighs. 

She’s soaking wet, a combination of both their arousal coating the insides of her thighs and leaking out of her. It’s the hottest fucking thing he’s ever seen, and it makes him smirk.

“Stop staring,” she snaps, but there’s no venom in her tone. Kiara squirms beneath his gaze, her blush creeping down her chest to the tops of her breasts.

“Not my fault you’re so fucking sexy,” he says, lowering his head to lick up the length of her.

“JJ…” Her tone gives him pause. He stops what he’s doing and looks up at her, “you just...came inside me.”

Oh. That’s what it is. 

“I don’t mind, Kie,” he says, licking at her again, watching her eyes flutter, “it’s kind of the hottest thing ever to see my come dripping out of you.”

She still doesn’t look totally convinced so JJ kisses her softly, hoping to alleviate any of her nerves. 

“Hey,” he nudges his nose against hers, looks her in the eyes, suddenly serious, “if you wanna stop, we can stop.” 

Kiara thinks about it for a minute and he can practically hear the wheels turning in her head. 

“Don’t stop.”

He grins at her and tickles her thigh as he goes back down. Kiara squeals and playfully bats at his head. Her ankles end up back by her ears, JJ’s ringed fingers on the heated skin on the back of her thighs. He meets her gaze and holds it as he lowers his mouth to her core. 

He starts off slow, kitten licking around her clit but never directly on it. His fingers caress the area around her entrance but never dip inside. He’s teasing her, wanting to draw out her pleasure and build it up. 

A sharp tug on his hair makes him smile, filthy though it is, and then he’s digging his tongue inside her and tasting them both together. Kiara gasps and her other hand flies to his hair and pulls. 

He pulls away to wrap his lips around her clit using her momentary distraction to slide three fingers inside of her. She’s tight, warm, and wet, and she feels just as good around his fingers as she did around his cock. He curls them up to hit her g-spot, forearm pressing down hard on the backs of her thighs to hold her still and stop her from squirming away.

“That’s a good girl, Kiara.” 

With her clit pulled between his lips, he uses his tongue to draw his name on the sensitive bundle _...JJ...JJ...JJ...JJ _ . Kiara cries out, and he moves his fingers faster and deeper. His cum and her own arousal making quiet wet sounds whenever he pushes his fingers back inside her. 

He finds salvation between her legs, the clenching of her thighs around his head akin to something otherworldly and divine. JJ’s never felt more alive than he does as he worships the space between Kiara’s thighs. 

“Oh my god, J, I’m gonna come, fuck,” her back arches, voice straining as she struggles to remember words, “I’m gonna come, I’m gonna come so hard.”

He takes his fingers out and uses his mouth to finish her off, savoring the taste and the feeling on his tongue. He can feel her legs spasm against his hold as she lets go and all he can think is how he would be perfectly content to spend the rest of his life right here. 

\---

Kiara can’t feel her legs. She actually, literally cannot feel her legs at all. Her hair is soaked in sweat and sticking to her forehead and the back of her neck. Her thighs ache from JJ’s body between them and from being bent in half like a pretzel. 

“Wow.” 

JJ makes a show of putting his fingers in his mouth and sucking them off, his cum and her arousal together. She scrunches her nose.

“You’re filthy,” she says, but again, there’s no venom in her voice. It’s fondness that colors her words. 

“Yeah but you love me.” He’s teasing but she’s not when she replies. 

“Yeah, I do.”

And she does. She realized that somewhere in between him taking off her shirt and him giving her the best orgasm of her life. She loves JJ.  _ She loves him.  _

JJ focuses on her lips so he doesn’t have to meet her eyes. “Kiara, I don’t...we don’t have to do this, you know. We’re soulmates and all but I don’t want you to be with me just because you have to.”

It breaks her heart a little bit; that he thinks she’s only here because of some celestial compulsion, and not because she made the conscience choice (to go with him at Midsummers, to comfort him that terrible night in the hot tub, to kiss him in the kitchen, to make love to him) to be with him because she wants him.

Kiara sits up and drapes herself over his chest. She rests her chin on his sternum and looks up at him through her lashes. 

“I chose you before, you know.”

He goes very quiet and very still again. Her thumb tilts his head to look at her. Ocean blue meeting deep brown. She wants him to look at her when she says this, hoping that her eyes will tell him all the things she can’t articulate. 

“I didn’t need a soul mark, J, I always knew it was you.”

JJ doesn’t say anything. He pulls Kiara onto his chest, buries one hand in her hand, and waits for her to fall asleep before he says, “I love you, too, Kiara.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAH! So...here we are. 11,777 words later this fic is finally finished. I'm not really sure how long this particular chapter is because it's late and I just needed to get it out there. I'm quite proud of this and I hope you all enjoy this. Thank you to the jiara jubilee gc for their unwavering love and support and the motivation they gave me via video chat as I finished this. 
> 
> This whole thing is unbeta'ed so any mistakes are mine and mine alone. I may go back and brush up the ending later on, but for now, here it is. The final part of Fated. 
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments: your feedback is important to me!
> 
> xoxo Katiekins

**Author's Note:**

> AAAH! So this is my first fic in the OBX/Jiara fandom and to say I'm nervous would be an understatement. There will be four parts to this mini fic: kiara//jj//and a two-part finale. Thank you to the girls in the gc for their love and support <3 Find me on tumblr @aarchiess.


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